The present invention relates generally to electro-chemical devices which emit light.
When liquid mercury is admitted into a partially evacuated chamber of glass or quartz, and when this container is subsequently shaken, light is emitted as the mercury rolls about under this agitation. The first recorded observation of this affect appears to be that of the astronomer, Picard, who in 1675, noted a visible blue-white glow in the region of the Torricellian vacuum when a mercury barometer was shaken. At the turn of the 18th century, investigations of this effect were undertaken by Fra. Hauksbee and published in the Phil. Trans. Roy. Soc. London 24, No. 303, 2130 (1705). He made observations upon the glow resulting from the motion of the globules of mercury upon the walls of a glass container, noting that visual detection of light emission became impossible when the air pressure in the vessel became as much as one-half atmosphere in value.
Gay L. Dybwad and C. E. Mandeville published their work in this area in an article entitled: "Generation of Light by the Relative Motion of Contiguous Surfaces of Mercury and Glass" published in The Physical Review, 15 Sept. 1967, Second Series, Vol. 161, No. 3. Dybwad and Mandeville discovered that the emission of photons and thereby the intensity of emitted light was increased by the introduction of gaseous helium into the space between the liquid mercury and the inner surface of the container. Although light emission arises from the ionization and excitation throughout the entire volume, the glow is seen to be concentrated in the near vicinity of the departing edge of the mass of mercury, the edge away from which the glass surface moves.
Although this effect has been known for some time, it has not been used to provide emergency lighting or to provide decorative effects.